If you feel a little disgusted because Daluo Palace is a modern reinforced concrete building, Yunfeng Temple is enough to make you nostalgic. Now the largest Taoist temple and the largest temple in Mianshan have been visited. The next scenic spot planned to visit is Shuitaogou.

Continue to take the bus, the terminal is Shuitaogou.

Other scenic spots in Mianshan are cultural landscapes, but Shuitaogou is a natural landscape. Therefore, ordinary tourists will choose to visit Shuitaogou after visiting several cultural attractions.

When we arrived at Shuitaogou, it was already lunch time. Most tourists come here at this time, so Shuitaogou also arranges catering services for tourists. Of course, in the depths of the scenic area, there is no requirement for good food and wine, and two bowls of noodles are enough.


After lunch, start to visit Shuitaogou. This fork leads to Guteng Valley. This is a newly developed scenic spot, I remember that I didn't have it when I came here.



Came to the gate to enter Shuitaogou Scenic Area.



The "water" in "Shuitaogou" comes from "Stone Water" in Mianshan. "Shui Jing·Fen Shui Zhu" has a cloud: "Fen Shui is hydrated with Shitong in the south, that is, Mian River. The water flows out of the Mianshan Mountain in Xiuxian County, and flows north to the west of Shitong Temple, which is the temple of Jie Zitui.  …"

Shitongshui twists and turns on the Mianshan Mountain, where the green hills are emerald and the cliffs are erect, and the ups and downs form a beautiful scenery of the back mountain. Our group walked through Shuitaogou, the mountains, water, grass, wind, water, and human voices constituted a vivid picture.

Shuitaogou has artificially decorated scenery, some are not satisfactory, but some are really not flattering. I remember having this experience when I came here 20 years ago.















After all, we are old and somewhat powerless. A group of Shanghai tourists came back from the opposite side and advised us not to go any further, "The front is the same, there is really nothing more worth seeing." So we retreated together.

I remember that when I came here 20 years ago, there was a ten-thousand-year ice waterfall in Shuitaogou. But with the passage of time and the increase of tourists, the icefall soon disappeared. That year, we reached the end of Shuitaogou—Shuilian Cave. In retrospect, some years are hastily sad.


Shuitaogou Scenic Area is connected to Jiegong Ridge. This is the "Longevity Picture" of Jiegongling Scenic Area. The Longevity Picture is 54 meters long and 8.5 meters high. It is composed of 272 bluestone slabs of different sizes. The characters "Shou" in different fonts are engraved on the bluestone slabs. There are a total of 10,103 "Shou" characters and 113 "Fu" characters. " and 110 "Lu" characters. These fonts are collected from fonts of famous people throughout the ages. You can also see the evolution process of Chinese character writing.



There is a cable car that can go straight to Jiegong Ridge, where there are Jiegong Temple and Jiezitui Tomb. But up to now, everyone is really limited in physical strength, so they have to give up their love.

The time to visit Shuitaogou is much shorter than planned, and the extra time is still to visit Longtou Temple. So everyone took the return bus to the Longtousi Scenic Area.

Longtou Temple is the first sight to enter Mianshan. The original name of this place is Tayantou, which is named after the original Kongwang Pagoda Courtyard under the rock. Later, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty came to Mianshan to pay a pilgrimage to the mountain. According to folklore, the name of the place was changed to Longtou Temple because of the appearance of two dragons. Therefore, Longtou Temple is just a place name, not a temple named "Longtou".

This tower straddling the road into the mountain is an antique building - Tangying tower. Mianshan Tangying was built in the Wude period of the early Tang Dynasty. According to Mianshan's information, Li Shimin and Song Jingang, the Zhou tribe of Liu Wu, fought in Dusuoyuan in Jiexiu. At that time, Song Jingang occupied Jiexiu City, and Li Shimin's barracks was here. Li Shimin set up a gossip formation here, defeating Song Jingang in one fell swoop.




But I checked the historical data and found out that this is not the case. First, the commander of the Tang army who fought Song Jingang in Dusuoyuan was not Li Shimin, but Pei Ji, the right servant. Second, the result of the Battle of Dusuoyuan was that Song Jingang defeated the Tang army led by Pei Ji. And after this battle, Song Jingang was like a broken bamboo, approaching Taiyuan in one fell swoop.

But in any case, Mianshan was indeed the barracks where the Tang army was stationed. However, after thousands of years, the ruins of Tangying have long since disappeared. So what you see now are all new scenic spots.

In front of the gate of Tangying City, there are two golden divine birds that are not phoenixes or chickens. I don't know what they are. The city wall is high, and there are caves below. The word "Daoan" is engraved on the forehead. Dao'an is a Buddhist language, also known as Bodhi's shore, which is the state of complete enlightenment. It is a bit strange that the gate of a military camp actually advocates the thorough enlightenment of Buddhism. There is a two-storey tower in the city, and a horizontal plaque hangs under the eaves, inscribed "Lingjing Fudi". Like "Daoan", it is really inappropriate to use it in a military camp.


The city wall outside the city gate has a hundred dragon wall, and 108 flying dragons are carved on the wall. It is said that in the third year of Wude, Li Shimin and Liu Wuzhou suffered a setback in the battle of Queshugu. At the critical moment, suddenly the golden drum roared in the sky, and 108 generals with silver helmets and silver armors were killed out of the Tang army. After some fighting, he defeated Liu Jun in one fell swoop. Afterwards, the god will turn into 108 dragons and fly to Mianshan. In order to thank the gods and generals for their help, Li Shimin built Bailongbi here. Of course, such an introduction can only be heard as a story. I don't even bother to check it out.



On the top of Bailongbi is Longji Mountain, and the inscription on the forehead of the colorful wooden archway is exactly the word "Longji Mountain".

Go up to the high platform, and there is a "Holy Relic Pavilion" on the platform. In the fifteenth year of Zhenguan, Tang Taizong came to Mianshan to worship Buddha. He was moved by the beautiful scenery of Mianshan here, so he happily wrote poems. In the eleventh year of Kaiyuan, when Tang Xuanzong visited Mianshan, he built this pavilion to commemorate the merits of the emperor's ancestors. What you see now is naturally new. There are stone statues of Li Shimin on the lower floor of the Shengji Pavilion; on the upper floor are statues of Li Shimin, Wei Zheng, Yu Chigong and others.



This majestic building is the "South Gate of Heaven". Nantianmen used to be the main gate of Mianshan Mountain. It was first built in the Northern Song Dynasty and was rebuilt in the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty. It was burned down by the Japanese invaders in 1940, but what you see now is rebuilt in 1998.

Nantianmen is a pavilion-style building, three stories high, with three eaves and double eaves on the top of the mountain. The horizontal plaque "everything is prosperous" hanging under the eaves was inscribed by Wen Yanbo, a famous prime minister in Song Dynasty. The couplet on the doorpost reads: "The temple looks like the sky, the clouds come and go, the wind is uncertain, it is really a castle in the air; the painter starts from the ground, the flowers bloom and fade, and the scenery is always new, and it will not be the same as Penglai on the sea." Taken from Su Dongpo's Tianbao Palace in Xuchang, Henan A couplet written by Lu Zudian.



There are also two stone tablets standing in front of the gate, which are inscribed respectively: "Gong is in the present age, and will benefit future generations" and "Abiding by the Tao and doing virtue, benefiting the world and benefiting people". But I don't know, who is it that is being praised here?


The second floor of Nantianmen is the Hall of Five Thunders, dedicated to the five marshals Deng, Bi, Liu, Xin and Pang of the Lei Department. The third floor is the Temple of Thunder, which is dedicated to the highest chief of the Ministry of Thunder - Jiutian Yingyuan Leisheng Puhua Tianzun. It is said that Thor is the incarnation of the Antarctic Longevity Emperor. But I remember that in the Romance of the Gods, Jiang Ziya was appointed as the Lord God of Leibu by Wen Zhong, the Grand Master of the Shang Dynasty.



Passing through Nantian Gate, there is "Mianshan Academy" on the side of the road, which is also newly built.



There is also a Guandi Temple in Nantianmen, which is too late to take a closer look. Going up from this row of steps is the Zhenwu Temple. The Zhenwu Temple is dedicated to Emperor Zhenwu, flanked by Zhou Gong, Peach Blossom Girl and the two generals of the turtle and snake.





After seeing Zhenwu Temple, we climbed up Longji Mountain again. After walking for a while, we found nothing good, so we went down the mountain. The dragon head stone carving in the photo is the finishing touch of the "Dragon Head Temple".




Taking the bus from Longtou Temple back to the visitor center can be troublesome. Because this is the first scenic spot in Mianshan, there are very few tourists who get off here on the return journey. After waiting for several cars, they drive away without opening the door. Finally got into a car but did not occupy a seat. The well-meaning young man got up to give up his seat, but because of the twists and turns of the mountain road going down the mountain, no passenger without a seat was allowed to stand. So I had to return the seat to others and get off by myself.

A group of nine of us waited patiently for the bus. Every time the bus came, only a few people could get on it. Finally, we got on the traffic vehicles in batches and returned to the visitor center one after another. Finally, everyone took their own chartered cars and returned to Jiexiu smoothly. That's the end of the day's travel.